Once Upon a Time
When the editors at PG first heard about
Peekamoose Guitars, the initial reaction
was that there had to be a nursery rhyme
within that unique name. After meeting
Peekamoose owner Paul Schwartz, learning about the company’s history, and
having an opportunity to play one of his
guitars, I can’t help but conjure up that
nursery rhyme to kick off this review:

At Peekamoose there’s a luthier named PaulWho fixes guitars big and smallHe’s studied his artsAnd he has all the partsAnd he builds a guitar that’s a ball

In reality, Peekamoose is not a nurseryrhyme, but rather one of the tallest peaksin the Catskill Mountains, and the nameof a trail in Highmount, NY, where PaulSchwartz skied in his youth. In keepingwith his vision of differentiating his offer-ings from the mass guitar makers, Paulchose the name when he formed his gui-tar lutherie and repairbusiness in 1983.Prior to formingPeekamoose, Paulhad the uniqueexperience of aninternship in theearly seventieswith one of NewYork City’s mostprominent luthiersand repairmen: CharlieLoBue, founder ofGuitar Lab and LoBueGuitars. While atGuitar Lab, Paulnot only learnedabout thefine art offretworkand guitardesign,but he alsoworkedaround

Here, Moosie Moosie
At first glance, it might be easy to mistakenly
label the Model 3 as a mere update to the
classic Fender Jazzmaster design. Looks can
be deceiving, as the only genetic code the
Model 3 shares with the Jazzmaster is its body
shape and 25. 5" scale length. Beyond those
two similarities, every other design decision in
the Model 3 is derived from Paul’s experience
in order to create an instrument with a broad
sonic palette, a high degree of responsiveness and solid reliability. The Model 3 features
a two-piece solid southern ash body (f-hole
semi-hollow is also available), finished in an
opaque blonde using nitrocellulose lacquer.
The body features both a top arm contour
and tummy cut. The quartersawn maple neck
is also finished with nitrocellouse lacquer and
sports the unique Peekamoose headstock. The
neck carve, like other features of the guitars,
draws from time-proven designs and is best
described as a combination of a ‘50s Strat and
a ’50s Les Paul. The neck is topped off with an
8"– 12" compound-radius fingerboard made
of a generous cut of highly-figured, slab-style
rosewood. Maple and ebony are also available. The rosewood contrasts nicely with the
22 polished, 18 percent nickel-silver frets
(.057" x . 100") and mother-of-pearl dot fret
markers. The sleeved, single action truss rod is
accessed at the headstock.

Playing the Moose
The guitar is voiced with a pair of zebra
custom-wound Seymour Duncan humbuckers that use the Seth Lover model (Alnico
2 bar) as a foundation. The goal was to